The federal and Northern Territory governments have pledged almost $27 million to address the “crisis” of unsafe drinking water in two remote NT communities.
Key points:
- The NT and federal governments have pledged $27 million for water security in Yuendumu and Milingimbi
- MLA Yinigya Guyula says water security concerns have had wide-ranging impacts
- Research has found 115 towns and communities across the country have unsafe drinking water
Yuendumu, in Central Australia, and Milingimbi, in East Arnhem Land, will receive total of $26.7 million for infrastructure projects.
In a joint statement, federal environment minister Tanya Plibersek and her NT counterpart Lauren Moss said it was “unacceptable” that Australian citizens in 2023 did not have reliable access to safe drinking water.
“It makes Australians sick and it holds them back in life,” the statement read.
Yuendumu has been allocated $15 million for the replacement of ageing water service lines, bores and mains, while Milingimbi will receive $11 million for new bores and upgrades in three locations.
The upgrades form part of a $150 million commitment — made by the federal government in February — for critical water infrastructure in remote Australia, where many people are forced to drink water containing unsafe levels of uranium, arsenic and E. Coli.
Water security halts housing, health improvements
Mark Yingiya Guyula, NT member for the East Arnhem Land electorate of Mulka, said the announcement for Milingimbi was a relief for its 1,200 or so residents.
He said the construction of new bores would allow the development of long-awaited housing developments in the township, where he said there could be as many as 20 people sharing a three-bedroom home.
“Almost every house has tents and shelters built around them, to make shelter during the wet season for those who can’t fit in,” he said.
According to Mr Guyula, plans for dialysis treatment in Milingimbi were shelved due to the lack of reliable water supply.
“The new clinic that was built there, it was built with a dialysis machine, everything was all set there, but they wouldn’t connect it because there’s not enough water,” he said.
Water security in Milingimbi was also a factor in 2019 when new nurse accommodation facility proposed by local health provider Miwatj was blocked.
“The new housing can come in, to fix the overcrowding problems we’ve been having in the community,” Mr Guyula said.
Ms Plibersek described the water supply problems in Yuendumu as a “crisis”.
“People have been keen to build new housing and that hasn’t been able to happen because the water supply has been uncertain,” she said.
Work to start ‘as soon as possible’
Yuendumu residents raised the alarm about its dwindling supply of drinking water with the territory government in 2019.
Ms Plibersek acknowledged the federal and territory responses to the community’s increasingly saline drinking water had been sluggish.
“We’re working with the community and the Northern Territory government to get work commenced as soon as possible. We want to obviously start as soon as we can,” she said.
Australian National University research has found unsafe drinking water in 115 towns and communities across the Northern Territory, South Australia, Queensland and Western Australia.
Researchers found that 40 per cent of locations affected by unsafe drinking water were remote Indigenous communities.